Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity Review+ Post E3 Updates!

Hey everyone! I know I promised a Last of Us review.... yeah I kind of lied. When I went into Gamestop instead of ordering TLOU for some reason I said I'd like Pokemon Gates to Infinity! Why? I don't know! But I thought, why not do a review of it! However, I have one quick post E3 announcement for you. If you plan on ordering an Xbox One or PS4, do it now! Supplies are dropping rapidly only one week into presales, and soon there will be no more pre orders available. So if you plan on getting a next gen console day one, I suggest you pre order now.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Gates to Infinity (besides the fact that that title takes infinity long to say, see what I did there? Ha!) is overall a faithful installment to the long running Mystery Dungeon series. This game is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessors in many ways, but it also falls short of them in other categories. Let's break it down section by section.

The most notable difference of this installment compared to its predecessors is graphics. This is the first Mystery Dungeon game on the 3DS, and using the 3DS's increased processing power over the DS, Gates to Infinity features stunning 3D landscapes, character models, and dungeons. However, although the graphics are 3D, they aren't actually... 3D. When you actually enable 3D features, the game just gains a little depth to the textboxes, and other than that, there's really no change. This game could have taken advantage of the 3D features with immersive cinematics and large amounts of depth, but overall 3D features really weren't taken advantage of, and just cause unnecessary headaches. Speaking of cinematics, we move on to my next gripe.

In this installment of the Mystery Dungeon series, there are more cutscenes than usual, (that don't even take advantage of the rich 3D landscapes present in the game) and while this wouldn't be a downfall, they are excruciatingly long. They go on for an incredibly unnecessary amount of time and over explain every little detail. I can say the same thing for the tutorials. While tutorials are obviously a necessary element for first time players (although a disable option would have been welcomed) they go on for an incredible amount of time, and explain details that could be picked up easily through actually letting you play the game, which you rarely get to do.

However with all that said, there are two crucial points a game needs to have strength in to be worth playing, plot and gameplay, and this game exceeds in both of these categories. The game uses the same gameplay from previous installments and builds upon it with necessary and welcomed editions. For example, in earlier editions of Mystery Dungeon if you didn't bring partners on adventures, they'd quickly fall behind in leveling up, thus they'd soon become very weak and you wouldn't be able to bring them on future adventures. However, in this game partners who don't go on adventures still gain XP, allowing you to take them on future adventures.

Overall, I really enjoyed this game. It builds on the tested and true gameplay of previous installments with new features that make the game even more enjoyable. I wouldn't call it a must have for the 3DS, however, it is a fun game that I recommend any fan of the Pokemon series to buy!

                                                        

                                                                                        -Colby

Final E3 Wrap Up!

Hey everyone! Well, E3 2013 has officially come to an end. There has been a ton of new software reveals, and a ton of new info about the next gen consoles! You can check out all of the major reveals down below, and thank you for sticking with me through the entire expo! :)

P.S. Stay tuned for The Last of Us Review later this week!

Recap of the E3 Nintendo Direct: http://bit.ly/14uRonv
Recap of Sony's E3 Conference: http://bit.ly/1bqqzRS
Recap of Ubisoft's E3 Conference: http://bit.ly/19jzurt
Recap of EA's E3 Conference: http://bit.ly/166z7Np
Recap of Microsoft's E3 Conference: http://bit.ly/14tyWf9

Thanks!
         
                                                                                                                     -Colby

Nintendo's E3 Nintendo Direct Recap and Review

As many of you may know, rather than having a large conference at E3 this year, Nintendo has instead opted to stream a special Nintendo Direct with tons of new software reveals. Check out all the new reveals after the jump.

Or watch it for yourself right here:

First on Nintendo's list was revealing some new info on the already highly anticipated new entries into the Pokemon series, X and Y.  The most prominent of the new info was the already expected announcement of a new Pokemon type, Fairy. The new type, which is super effective against dragon types will be applied to already existing Pokemon like Gardevoir, and new Pokemon like Slyveon.

Another new feature to X and Y is Pokemon-Amie (I have absolutely no idea why it's titled that, sometimes Nintendo likes to not use real words?) that lets you bond with your Pokemon in new ways like feeding and petting them using the touchscreen. Both the X and Y versions are set for a worldwide release date of October 12th.

The next new item that was revealed was the new 3D Mario title for the Wii U,  Super Mario 3D world. Most of the time, the only thing offered in new Mario games are a new adventure, however, in this game the there are a number of new innovative features. In the newest console entries in the Mario series the playable characters have been the Mario Brothers and two Toads, yellow and blue variants. However, in this addition  the yellow toad has become unplayable in favor of Peach. Peach has a very different style of gameplay as she can glide a short distance after each jump. It's a (welcomed) surprise to have Peach featured in this newest entry, and it will be interesting to see what the plotline of this game will be rather than saving Peach.

Other new features (besides the fact that there's now multiplayer features, which is awesome) include the addition of old familiar characters like Chargin Chuck, all new ways to explore the game, and the best announcement of all of E3, a new cat power up. Which allows you to climb walls, scratch your enemies with your claws, and be 500% cooler. This new title will be available in December.

The next topic (one I was very excited for) was Mario Kart 8. While there were no new character reveals, the newest features are anti gravity wheels which allow you to well, defy gravity and drive on walls in some stages! You are also able to glide through the air and drive underwater like in Mario Kart 7.

After Mario Kart, a new title, Wii Party U was announced. The game features a large amount of board and mini games to play, similar to Mario Party. Both this title and Wii Fit U were pushed back from their original summer release date to October and December respectively.

In response to the beautiful and detailed drawings made on Miiverse (which was totally unexpected by Nintendo), Nintendo is releasing a new game titled Art Academy, and while this game is still in the early stages of development, some of the tools available in Art Academy will be available early in Miiverse to give gamers even more tools, for even more advanced drawings.

Next announced were a ton of third party titles that would be coming to the Wii U and 3DS. These included Assassin's Creed IV (Wii U), Batman Arkham Origins (Wii U), Batman Arkham Origins: Blackgate (3DS), Deus Ex Human Revolution - Director's Cut (Wii U), and many, many more.

After that the first gameplay footage of the new Zelda Wind Waker Remake was released, still using the (1080p) animation style that was widely protested by the majority of the fans of the series.

In the original game, the character Tingle (just no) gave you an item that would allow you to connect to the GBA to have another player assist you in the game. In this version, that item has been updated to the Tingle Bottle, which allows you to send and receive messages from Miiverse, like a message in a bottle. I was a bit confused by this, as rather than just updating the item to connect to the 3DS the item has taken on a totally different use that is not nearly as helpful as before, but it does provide an interesting social element to the game that should be interesting to play around with. The Wind Waker HD will be released in October.

After this the new title The Wonderful 101 was announced with a release date of September 15th.

The next title that was announced was totally unexpected, but pleased fans everywhere, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze! Due to the Donkey Kong Country Returns 3DS remake just being released a new DK game was very unexpected, but welcomed by the fans! Using the Wii U's beautiful 1080p graphics the game has taken on a much more realistic feel, with Donkey Kong's fur even moving in the wind. Along with new camera angles and a more cinematic feel overall, 2 player gameplay is back with a surprise, along with Diddy, Dixie Kong is also a playable character, who has her own special abilities that add another level of depth to the gameplay.

After announcing Bayonetta 2 featuring stunning gameplay footage and a redesigned protagonist, they premiered arguably the most hyped game from the entire conference, the new Smash Bros Entry.

Let's start off with the one negative from the announcement. While the Wii U versions are identical in almost every aspect there is one they differ greatly in, animation style. While the graphics in the Wii U version are a nice step up from the Wii Version, the 3DS version has an animation style that plainly just looks awful. It really just looks like a cheap drawing made by a 10 year old. However, with that said, the game features a ton of new innovative maps, the most notably being the train from Zelda Spirit Tracks! Also announced was a new character, a villager from Animal Crossing who sports a very unique playstyle! While both version are being released in 2014 it is unknown if they will be able to bought for the price of one, such as the cross buy feature for games developed for both the PS3 and PS Vita. But then, Nintendo gave us another surprise, Mega Man will be a playable character in the new game, and while I've never played any of the Mega Man games, I'm sure hardcore fans of the series are fangirling all over the place right now.

After a brief tour of the Nintendo E3 booth, that was it! Overall that was a great Nintendo Direct filled with new software I can't wait to try! And honestly, I'd say that was as good as Sony's (my favorite conference from yesterday) conference yesterday! Thanks for reading, and I'll keep updating you as E3 goes on! Bye!

Honestly all you need to take from this is that Mario can turn into a cat. Nintendo has won E3.              

                                                                                                           -Colby 

E3 Day One Recap: Everything you need to know

Hey everyone, E3 day one has officially come to a close! Check out reviews and recaps of each press conference held today down below!

Microsoft- http://bit.ly/14tyWf9 

EA- http://bit.ly/166z7Np 

Ubisoft-http://bit.ly/19jzurt 

Sony- http://bit.ly/1bqqzRS

Also check stay tuned for tomorrow where Nintendo plans to unveil a ton of new games! See you tomorrow!

                                                                                                                                     -Colby

Sony's E3 Press Conference Recap and Review

Alright everyone, as Day 1 of E3 comes to a close I've reviewed and recapped every single conference that has been held today, including Microsoft, EA, and Ubisoft's! However, we still have one of the biggest conferences of E3 left, Sony's! It is unknown what is in store for us in this conference, so find out what Sony revealed in the recap and review of the conference below!

Sony started off the conference with a mashup of everything Playstation, it's past, present, and its future, followed by Jack Trenton coming out on stage and announcing what's next for the Vita, including the Telltale Game's Walking Dead Series' 1st season coming to the Vita along with an all new episode, 400 Days.

After a brief speech about the future of the Vita (noticeably missing was the highly rumored Vita price cut) the conference turned back towards the PS3 and its upcoming first party title The Last of Us with an all new trailer. The show kept up the quick pace by showing 2 teaser trailers for the upcoming games The Puppeteer and Rain.

Immediately after that Beyond Two Souls got a new trailer showing Jodie Holmes training in a military base (amidst other things) but as quickly as that began it was over with a new trailer for Gran Turismo 6 (why they're rushing through all these trailer when they have two hours at their disposal I have no idea), which features rich, realistic landscapes and an immersive, customizable experience. 

The PS3 trailers kept on coming with a new Batman: Arkham Origins trailer, and while this does feature pre-rendered cgi footage, it does also give us some live gameplay and hints at how the new Batman installment will play, and from what we've been shown it will only expand and build on the solid Arkham series' formula. The trailer was also coupled with new, extra downloadable content coming only to Playstation including new stages and skins.

From there, Sony moved on to (arguably) the most important part of the conference, the actual reveal of the PS4 hardware. Featuring a sleek design, the PS4 has found a totally new, beautiful look, especially when compared to the boring, 1980 VCR reminiscent Xbox One. 

From there the conference moved on to the non gaming side of the PS4, and delivered news about upgrades to its streaming service Music Unlimited and new programs in development by Sony Pictures that are coming exclusively to Playstation systems. It also announced that Redbox Instant and Flixster will be coming to Playstation systems, along with select Pay per View events, however, Sony did reiterate that at its heart, PS4 is a gaming console (unlike the Xbox One, BURN!!), and that its main goal is to bring new gaming experiences to households everywhere. 

After that we received a new, all gameplay trailer from a new IP from Sony Santa Monica titled The Order, followed by new Killzone: Shadow Fall, Driveclub, Infamous: Second Son, and Knack (all of which were initially revealed at the PS4 event) gameplay. The gameplay shown from these titles all featured rich, immersive experiences that take advantage of the power of the next generation consoles.

From there Sony praised itself on its relations with indie developers, and how these developers continue to reshape gaming as a whole, followed by the reveal of the indie game Transistor, which looks like well, definitely an indie game, with a lot of potential. However, it is unknown what exactly this game holds. From there Sony revealed new details of what the PS4's future holds in regard to indie games, and from what was revealed it seems as if the Playstation will continue to be the premier platform for indie games. The developers realized this too, as every indie game shown will be found exclusively on the PS4.

After Square Enix was introduced through a video message they revealed Final Fantasy's (a cult favorite of Final Fantasy XV, along with Kingdom Hearts 3.

After those quick trailers, Assassin's Creed IV received its first live gameplay demo (which featured an incredible amount of technical difficulties including the game just stopping at multiple times), which really just offered the same experience as AC3 with a pirate theme to it. This only furthers the feeling among gamers that Assassin's Creed could just be turning into the extremely un-innovative series that is Call of Duty. 

After an incredible 5 minutes of new Watch_Dogs gameplay, Sony announced that an hour of extra gameplay and a new skin for the main character of Watchdogs would be coming exclusively to Playstation.

And then, Sony won the conference. Announced to a massive amount of cheering from the audience, Sony announced that the PS4 will support used games without any restrictions. After the unrelenting cheering of the audience died down, Sony also announced that the PS4 does not require any type of online authentication, once again blasting Microsoft's entire plan for the One. And then once again to a large amount of applause, Sony announced that PS Plus will continue to expand its services, and that any existing Plus accounts will carry over to the PS4, and that immediately at launch PS Plus subscribers will gain free access to Driveclub (PS Plus addition) whether or not this version will have any differences from the retail version is unknown.

The ball kept rolling from there with the first gameplay from Destiny, the new Bungee Studios title that the PS4 is relying heavily on (even if it isn't a PS4 exclusive). The gameplay featured beautiful and immersive landscapes and, a ton of weapons, abilities, and features at your disposal!

Sony then announced that Gaikai will be providing the Vita, PS3, and PS4 will be providing gamers with great PS3 titles in early 2014, and whether or not already owned titles will have to be rebought is unknown. And then once and for all Sony destroyed Microsoft with an incredible launch price point of $399!

So while it was unclear whether or not Sony was going to be able to triumph Microsoft in the beginning of their conference, at the end they destroyed Microsoft piece by piece, by having the winning angle regarding used games, always online policies, and its price point.

So after that dominating conference, day one of E3 is officially over! Make sure to stick with me tomorrow as I'll be recapping the large amount of titles Nintendo is expected to unveil tomorrow.

                                                                                                -Colby

Ubisoft's E3 Press Conference Recap and Review

Hey everyone! Thanks for sticking with me throughout E3 today! Ubisoft's press conference is just about ready to commence! If you missed the recaps earlier today, you can read all about Microsoft and EA's conferences by clicking on their names. For the second year in a row Aisha Tyler is hosting Ubi's conference, a job she exceeds at. Anyways, read the recap of the entire conference after the jump!

Ubisoft started their show off with a bang by bringing out Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains to play a song and introduce the first game reveal, Rocksmith 2014. He did this by first playing his guitar alone, and then using a band from Rocksmith to aid him in another song. This was able to start the show off in a lively and fun way, and also introduce Rocksmith, which is able to teach anyone how to play guitar in a quick and fun way.

Aisha Tyler added a whole nother level to the show by actually presenting games in an upbeat way (unlike everyone else today) and adding comedy to the show, even with the unbearably half a sleep audience she had to deal with  throughout the show.

After starting things off with a bang with Jerry Cantrell Ubisoft immediately began to fizzle with their trailer of Splintercell: Blacklist. While this did look like a well made, immersive game it seemed more or less the same as most first person shooters, and after already seeing 40,000 other FPSs today, no one wants to see another, especially if it really doesn't offer any innovation whatsoever to the usual FPS formula.

After unveiling Blacklist, they revealed the new Rayman Legends. While there really isn't much new to this game, it seems like a fun all ages platformer that's cartoony graphics look beautiful on its new console home of the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U.

Ubisoft then revealed another overly cartoony game, The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot, basically a castle building game where you defend your castle as you steal from other players' castles for the younger ages, at this point look likes Ubi is really trying to appeal to a younger audience.

After revealing this game they unveiled another teaser for South Park: The Stick of Truth (right after 2 kids games, Ubisoft logic.) and while it didn't stack up to the many other teaser trailers out there, it's nice to know that the developers didn't forget that this game does in fact exist.

After that Ubisoft jumped to a new topic again by unveiling the first next gen title of the show,  The Crew. The Crew showed off how powerful the next gen consoles are by making incredibly realistic cityscape and desert environments that were so real looking that the trailer could have passed for a movie trailer! The Crew is one of the first of its kind, an mmorpg racing game centered around making well... A Crew with your friends as you race around and take over the world with your Crew! With the ability to play single player, co-op, or competitive this game allows players to drive, and even work together from all around the in-game world that covers the entire United States. This is one of the few games today that has been able to truly show just how much power the next generation consoles have.

After revealing an already leaked Watchdogs trailer (which makes it no less awesome) they totally switched gears and revealed the incredibly predictable 2014 Just Dance, which besides a new 6 player mode really only offers a new playlist.

After just dance, the next topic was the Raving Rabbids TV show (which looks adorable) that you can play. Why they chose to brand this as a TV show I have no idea, as this is really just an overly cinematic video game, but, no matter what you want to call it, it's time for Assassin's Creed.

Although I've always thought that AC4 could have just been DLC for AC3 (Connor goes pirating, because that would be so hard to make) there's no doubt that Ubisoft puts a lot of time, money, and effort into their games, and this is no exception. Although the trailer was all pre-rendered cgi footage, (because you know, you only need at least 8,000 of those at every press conference) so far this title seems like it will really just be a repackaging of Assassin's Creed 3 with a new story (Call of Duty-esque much?). Also from what we've seen this looks as if this title really has no plans on pushing the boundaries, but rather sticking to what we've seen this whole generation (thanks Ubisoft that's refreshing).

The next announcement (the stand out of the conference) Tom Clancy's The Division, blurred the lines between single and multiplayer gaming. The gameplay featured stunning (I can't enunciate that enough) graphics and an entire team of 3-4 people playing together (that group being part of a much larger group over an entire in game open world), with people being able to drop out and rejoin as they please. With a beautiful UI and an array of abilities to choose from, we've finally found a shooter unveiled at this EA that had some variety to it.

Overall, there weren't many surprises in this conference. However, the conference unveiled a ton of new titles for every type and age of gamer. So overall I'd say this was an enjoyable conference that held something for everyone. Check back here in a few hours for the Sony conference!

                                                                                           -Colby

EA's E3 Press Conference Recap and Review

Welcome everyone! So today's the big day, E3! Up next is EA's press conference. If you missed my recap of Microsoft's conference, check that out here! I'm really hoping to hear some Sims 4 news from this conference! Anyways, check out the recap and review after the jump!

EA started off with the title Garden Warfare, one of the two new titles in the Plants VS Zombies series. Garden Warfare is a new take on the PVZ series, and is actually a 3rd person shooter title. The game allows the plant of your choice to move around freely as you battle zombies in an arena, the one shown was the zombie's mansion/base. The game features 3D graphics, and it even features sniper, healer, and melee class characters, depending on which plant you choose to play as. Featuring boss waves, different classes of plants, and real time tactics, this is a well thought out, immersive title due out on the Xbone and 360. But seriously, this game is just awesome.

In trailers and gameplay for new reveals like Need for Speed Rivals it is clear EA is pushing the boundaries to make the experience as immersive as possible. NFS Rivals features a rich, crystal clear landscape and ever changing weather patterns, which makes for a game that really puts you in the front seat. 

Another surprise was bringing up Aaron Paul, star of Breaking Bad and the new NFS movie to bring us some behind the scenes footage from the movie. For a series where plot is really put on the backburner for action, it'll be interesting to see how the 1st movie installment will do, critically and box office wise.

From there the conference moved into arguably one of EA's biggest territories, sports. Just like in Microsoft's conference, AI intelligence is taking huge steps forward, and your computer controlled team mates will have humanlike instincts, once again making for a much real experience. The sports segment is where this conference started to fall. In this segment EA brought out odd guests who had no business being there, and had many unveilings that were incredibly underwhelming, with minor innovations like micro precision and elite technique that could be seen from miles away that should have been made already. All of these reveals were met with an fake applause track played over the dull, bored, minor cheering of the audience.

From there, things got (somehow) even worse! EA brought out Drake to talk about FIFA 2014. Why? ! Some sort of attempt to bring the mainstream audience into E3? Who knows! The point is it was totally unnecessary and had no connection to what the topic was.

From there EA moved on to the UFC, where it brought out the current heavyweight and lightweight champions (who actually had a connection to the topic) to talk about what fighting was and what it meant to them. After dragging that on for as long as possible (probably to torture us, because they're EA) they showed us the UFC 2014 trailer, which featured pre rendered footage, and no live gameplay whatsoever. Thanks EA!

After the wonderful world of EA Sport's presentation, I needed something else, even if it is another FPS. And that's exactly what they gave us, the first glimpse into Battlefield 4's multiplayer mode, which features an immersive landscape where everything is able to be interacted with. 

After recovering from the sports blunder with BF4, they revealed a fan favorite, Mirror's Edge 2, who's trailer used all real gameplay and brought real cheers from the crowd, rather than the fake cheer track used on all their underwhelming reveals.

Along with a few technical difficulties like hearing everyone backstage laughing hysterically when their mics weren't off (Seriously, what were they laughing at?) the multitude of boring underwhelming reveals really outweighed the positives of this experience. So with a strong start, weak middle, and strong ending, EA's conference was well.... extremely average.

And yeah, no Sims 4 news. yay.

                                                                                            -Colby

Microsoft's E3 Press Conference Recap and Review

Hey everyone! On Monday Microsoft hosted their long awaited E3 press conference where they talked about new software and revealed new details about their new console, the Xbox one. Check out a review and recap of the conference down below.

Right from the beginning it's clear Microsoft is looking to make up for its mistake this generation. Immediately from even just the pre show Microsoft started revealing new games that are only for Xbox one, and pretty much in the first five minutes doubled the amount of exclusives found one Xbox 360. However, whether or not they'll be able to keep up the steady stream of exclusives throughout the entire generation is yet to be known.

Aside from just revealing new exclusive games, Microsoft showed what these new games are made of, and why it's worth buying the Xbone to play them. They showed gameplay of the new installment in the long running racing series Forza Motorsport, Forza 5. AIs in these games have evolved beyond being just a computer. Rather than driving in the systematic way we've come to expect with AIs, they drove in a less systematic, more human way, which make for a much more realistic and challenging game.

In the many trailers shown throughout the conference they showed just how realistic games are becoming. At one point in the Quantum Break trailer (A new Microsoft exclusive game) I was shocked that I was looking at a digital person, and not a real human, which shows how dedicated developers are to making the next generation as close to real life as possible.

However, developers are pushing the boundaries in every way, not just in graphics. In games like Project Spark, developers are building on games such as Little Big Planet that let you build your own experience, however, unlike in older generations where you had to use pre made tools that could limit your creativity, in this generation you have complete control over your creations with much more in depth and immersive tools available to you. Also in the same field, there are many new great developments in the open world genre. In new open world games you can interact with everything. Random objects can be picked up and used as improv weapons, and narrow or hard to reach routes that you never thought possible to use in this generation are now easily accessible escape routes, as shown in games like Dead Rising 3.

The conference also showed non gaming features, such as the ability to instantly live stream and record your gameplay to share with your audience online. Basically, everyone in the world will now have a gaming channel. great.

While there were many positives to the conference, it also had many downfalls too. Such as a ton of technical difficulties like no audio, just a terrible pretending to be excited crowd's cheers, in the Crimson Dragon trailer and the gameplay trailer for Battlefield 4 just not starting... like... ever (probably because they were running on Windows 8), scripted and awkwardly delivered jokes that garnered little to no laughs from the audience, and the omission of details like how the Xbone will handle used games and the topic of the Xbone not being able to work unless logging in to Xbox Live every 24 hours, details the gamers need, unlike the constant mentioning and plugging of SmartGlass. And then the worst of it all, an incredible launch price of $500! That means buying just 2 games along with your system will cost at the lowest $640. Is a system full of the exact same first person shooter over and over, live TV only available only at launch and in just one county, and basically not being able to be played in rural areas of the country as you have to stay logged in to play, worth $500? I'll let you answer that one.

Well, that's it for the Microsoft press conference! Tell me what you thought of it in the comments below, and I'll see you soon for EA, Ubisoft, and Sony conferences.

                                                                                                -Colby

Full E3 Recaps Coming Soon!

                                     
Hey everyone! As most of you probably know, E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is right around the corner, kicking off on the 10th, or next Monday, and ends on the 13th, or that Thursday. And as I will be watching most of the live streams from the expo, I will be live blogging and recapping all of the big stories from the expo throughout the duration of it. So make sure to come back here on Monday, 9 AM Pacific time, where you'll be able to watch the livestream as I'm live blogging it. Hope to see you all back here!
                                                                                                                           -Colby